My desire is to grapple together here over how well off we are with God through Christ,
and to live from His opinion of us.

Monday, October 22, 2007

We're All Searching For Treasure

A friend, referring to the sermons she liked at her church, said, “They are so practical; he just tells us what to do. They’re not about all that mystical stuff…” And I longed for her. She wasn’t becoming more and more fascinated with Jesus, finding her greatest delight in Him, she was fixated upon herself…and that’s simply not nearly enough.

Brennan Manning writes, “The paltriness of our lives is largely due to our fascination with the trinkets and trophies of the unreal world that is passing away…When we are not profoundly affected by the treasure in our grasp, apathy and mediocrity are inevitable. If passion is not to degenerate into nostalgia or sentimentality, it must renew itself at its source. The treasure is Jesus Christ. He is the Kingdom within.”

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

Biblical scholar Joachim Jeremias comments, “When that great joy surpassing all measure seizes a man, it carries him away, penetrates his inmost being, subjugates his mind. All else seems valueless compared to that surpassing worth. No price is too great to pay. The unreserved surrender of what is most valuable becomes a matter of course. The decisive thing in the parable is not what the man gives up, but his reason for doing so – the overwhelming experience of their discovery. Thus it is with the kingdom of God. The effect of the joyful news is overpowering; it fills the heart with gladness; it changes the whole direction of one’s life and produces the most wholehearted self-sacrifice.”

You know, we're all looking for treasure. It's just that only One actually satisfies and keeps on satisfying.